Soul Without Life
by BewareTheDragon1
Summary: Ghost Magics AU 2- A magical artifact, a soul-eating wraith, zombie robots, and a band of hired assassins. What do these things all have in common? They're all causing problems for Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. It's not like the pizzeria is defenseless, though. With a resurrected murderer, a haunted marionette, and a dark entity known for creating nightmares, what could go wrong?
1. Armory Arcade

Beginnings are often profound. You can tell when they're going to become something great, something notable.

Sometimes a beginning is the end of something else, as the remnants of the ending are transformed into something better.

Sometimes a beginning is clear what it will become, although disappointment is just as common as success. All one need do to see that is look at kickstarter and Indiegogo to learn this.

Sometimes its possible to even know that something is, in fact, beginning.

Terry, though, had no idea what this was supposed to be the start of.

Newly graduated from college with his Bachelor's in physics, Terry was in kind of a bind. It was the typical scenario of a newly-grad, really. He needed a job in order to pay for life, but in order to get a job he needed work hours. In order to get work hours, he needed a job. The end result was that he really couldn't get any good paying job.

So when the young man found the advertisement in the paper for a job that needed no previous work experience, he immediately went for it. It payed surprisingly well, but that was probably only because the place in question was closing in a couple of days anyways. With luck, it would be enough to last him until he got another job, but for now a single night's work was all he really needed to do.

Terry glanced up at the sky, staring at the clouds. The buildings in the city often blocked the sun, but the sunset's reflection off of the clouds was always a sight to behold.

Shaking his head, Terry walked on. His new workplace wasn't far. A surprisingly large place next to the museum, which was frankly just poor building planning. What kind of idiot designed a city so that the safehold of ancient artifacts was back-to-back with a public arcade?

Nevertheless, that was how it was.

Terry continued back to the arcade, glancing up at the sign. A cartoonish dragon and phoenix leaning together, each with an arm around the shoulders of the other. Underneath the two was the name of the place, _Armory Arcade._ The rest of the front of the building was pretty worn down. Terry could actually remember when his mom brought him here, before it had devolved into the place where the bad teens went to hang out. It had actually been quite well managed, back then. It had been clean, and the animatronic characters had been entertaining. Now, though, the place was a dump. Beer cans in the parking lot, cigarette stubs in the cracks of the sidewalk, and rot and mold covered the brick front of the building.

Stepping inside, Terry looked around the dim interior. Most of the lights were busted, meaning that the working lights only served to show the long shadows. Some of the arcade machines were clearly busted, with wires showing and screens cracked. Mold was growing in the corners, and the plaster on the walls was split apart.

The main attraction, though, was the stage that was visible from the entrance. Two statue-like figures stood there, frozen in the pose of waving. On the left was the dragon mascot, his black suit painted to look like scales. Flimsy wings extended from its back, broken and torn. A thick black tail wound around its feet, resting on the ground. The main thing that Terry saw was the eyes. While its left eye was a normal eye, for an animatronic, the right was a solid green, and glowed despite the fact that the power was supposedly off.

The other animatronic was the phoenix mascot. Her- and it was very, very clearly female- suit was red in color, with flame accents on the arms and legs. It was entirely clear that the suit had been reworked to draw in more late teenagers. Someone had looked at it and said 'you know what we need to do to draw in more customers? Give them sex appeal'. And clearly, that had been taken seriously. The phoenix had been given an unrealistically exaggerated figure. But again, Terry's gaze was drawn to the eyes. They were golden, and, impossibly, incredibly intelligent.

Shaking his head, Terry continued on through the building. The place was surprisingly large, with winding hallways and a great deal too many rooms. But the only room that Terry really cared about was the security room.

Terry stepped into the room and sat down in the chair. There were only two entrances, with buttons for lights and door control at each one. The doors were grates, as opposed to actual doors. Terry experimentally closed one, watching as the grate lowered. It wasn't particularly fast, but it would stop someone who was down the hall.

He shook his head again and looked at the television screen in front of him. There were buttons near the screen, one for each camera in the building. Terry glanced up at the clock and raised his eyebrows. It was already nearing midnight. Shrugging, Terry leaned forwards and turned on the television screen.

Immediately, a colorful ad began to play, featuring the arcade itself.

 _"Welcome to the Armory Arcade! Home of fun, games, and our iconic animatronic characters! Join Draco the dragon, Pharra the phoenix, King Arthur, and the knights Gawain and Lance in great fun on the show floor! But don't go into the dungeon, or-"_

 _FSSSHHHHZZ_

 _"-So enjoy your stay as night guard, here at the Armory Arcade!_

 _"ArmoryArcadeisnotresponsibleforanyinjury,lostproperty,mentaltrauma,ordeath."_

 _FSHT._

Terry stared at the small television screen for a moment and blinked. "What."

Before he could ponder what was just said any further, though, the screen blinked back to life. A scruffy middle-aged man was on-screen, replacing the colorful and dishonest commercial from a moment ago. He glanced to the sides of the screen, then leaned close. _"Alright, so you probably already hate this job just 'cause of that stupid ad, right? But you're here, and leaving is probably more dangerous than staying."_

The man glanced around again, then reached over and pushed a button. _"I'm sitting where you are right now, although by this point I'm either dead or left. Probably dead. My goal here is to make sure you don't wind up that way. Little reprogramming here, a little video camera there, and suddenly you've got a functioning tutorial for the new guy, as opposed to the stupid shit they had when I showed up._

 _"But enough complaining. You want to know why I'm talking to you, and without a doubt you haven't got a clue as to what's going on. I'll lay it out plain and simple."_ The man leaned forwards and stared at the grainy screen, seeming to see beyond it to Terry. _"The robots are going to try and kill you. There's something real, real wrong with 'em, and it's terrifying. I'll go through 'em one by one, hopefully you can remember what the damn things do."_

Static overtook the screen, then the main stage appeared. Standing there were the two main mascots, the dragon and the phoenix. _"First is the lizard. Dunno why one of the eyes is always lit up, but it makes the thing easier to see. You've probably seen the light button on the camera controls. Don't use it when this guy's in the room you're watching. Light makes it spaz, or something, and it just moves faster. You can't really miss it when it shows up at the door, which helps 'cause you gotta immediately close the grate. Turn the light on, and it'll dash in._

 _"Then there's the bird. It's sneaky as hell, and tends to follow the dragon around. It'll back off if you shine the light on it, same kind of glitch. But the real problem is that it's_ fast _. Like, real fast. Dunno how it moves that fast with that stupid as hell design, but it does. Don't try to slam the door on it, it'll dash through before the grate closes."_

The screen flickered with static again, this time resolving on the side room that was inhabited by a trio of suits of armor. A large circular area in the center of the floor was clear of any obstruction, and half of its edge was made up of benches and chairs. _"Then there's the knights. Lance is the one in red and black, Gawain is in blue and white. They both move at the same time, so it's easy to find the other if you can find one. The problem is that they both show up at the doors at the same time too. If you see one at your door, close both doors. Checking the other door is a death sentence._

 _"Arthur's the real problem though. Hulking thing was nailed to the chair by management to keep it from acting up during the day, too. It'll usually sit in that chair, but if it does move, you need,_ need _, to keep the camera on it. Don't bother to check the others, you can take care of them with your doors and lights. Something about Arthur's armor makes it so that the thing amplifies the signal from your camera, causing the robotics to freeze up."_

The screen flickered one last time, this time resolving on a room that wasn't on the maps. It was an old storage chamber, filled with decaying boxes and props. In one corner a humanoid figure sat slumped, its cowled black robe keeping it hidden. Bones were littered all around the figure. Terry fervently hoped they were Styrofoam. _"Then there's this thing. Used to be called 'Duncan the Dungeonkeeper', but then the face fell off and the endoskeleton began to spasm at random. I call it the wraith now. They put it in the storage room and hoped people would forget about it, which is probably why they keep finding bones in the storage room. Real bones. Dunno where the skin and blood and organs go, but all that's ever left are the bones. Check on it often. Really often. Shine your light. If it starts to move, shine your light more. It'll be hell on the electrical bill, but it's cheaper than a funeral. If that thing moves while Arthur's out of its chair, just run. Set the cameras to Arthur and run. Can't outrun Arthur, as big as it is, but hopefully you can outrun the wraith and the others."_

After a moment of hesitation, the man glanced around. _"Gotta go. Midnight just struck, both for you and me. Watch the wraith, check on Arthur, remember your lights, and only worry about the knights when one is at your door. Good luck."_

 _Click._

After a second, the television turned back on, this time as a camera display system.

And all Terry could do was say one thing.

"What."

Then the clock chimed.

Still confused beyond comprehension, Terry leaned forwards and turned on the stage camera. He looked at the two animatronics onstage and frowned. Was the dragon in a different position? That eye illuminated its position, making it quite clear that the creature was still there.

Then it moved.

The black dragon moved jerkily, with stuttering motions. It stepped down off of the stage, its spotlight-like gaze sweeping across the broken machines. Each of its footsteps caused its suit to rattle loosely on its mechanical skeleton, the broken wings flopping loosely and the tail dragging on the floor. It came to a stop halfway across the room and looked around again. Then it looked up. Not at the camera, but at Terry.

Immediately, Terry flinched back. "What the hell?"

The dragon looked back at the stage, glancing for a moment at the phoenix, then continued on. As it left the room and the light from its eye vanished, the room was plunged into darkness. Terry quickly turned the light on, his eyes widening at the sight.

In the fraction of a second that the light had been out, the phoenix had moved. Not just shifted position, but flat-out sprinted. It was all the way across the room, nearly at the exit of the show floor. As the light flickered on, the phoenix also glanced up at the camera. Not through it, in the odd way the dragon had, but examining the camera. It was seeing the camera, analyzing it.

No robot should be able to do that.

Terry quickly changed to another camera, remembering what the guy had said about the wraith. As the camera changed to the storage room he quickly turned the light on. Two glints of cold blue shined back as the cowled form glanced up. It flinched as its 'face' turned towards the light. Then the light flickered, and shut off.

When Terry turned the light back on, the shadowy form was gone. Frantically, Terry flipped through the cameras. He couldn't see the wraith, which he wasn't sure whether it was good or bad.

A moment of terror shot through Terry, and he glanced at the doors. No lights were visible, so the dragon wasn't there. He quickly pressed the light buttons, revealing only a fleeting red shape. After a moment of processing, he realized that he had caught the phoenix just before it had gotten in. Terry sighed in relief and changed the camera to the room with the knights. The two smaller knights, Lance and Gawain, were gone, but since neither of them was at his door there was no risk.

The massive knight, the one nailed to its seat, though, was still there. It was slightly risen, the chair partially falling apart. The nails that had held it in place clearly weren't enough to keep it motionless. In any event, the king could clearly pull the chair apart. It wasn't like it was being repaired any more.

Keeping the camera on Arthur, Terry turned the right door's light back on. His eyes widened at the sight of a red and black knight, and he immediately closed both doors.

After a moment, the sound of clanking metal alerted Terry to the knights leaving. He turned the light back on to check if the knights were really gone, and sighed as he opened the doors again.

How in the world had the knights come up so silently? They were covered in metal, for god's sake! Not only that, but they had made so much noise walking away!

Terry turned back to the screen and flicked through the cameras, pausing when he reached one that had a single green light. There was something… wrong in that room. Flickering movements around the green light that was the dragon's eye. The green spotlight swept up towards the camera once more, seeming to look at Terry, then focused on something else in the room. The green light outlined a shadow in the room, then looked at the camera once more.

Then the camera shut off.

Eyes widening in surprise, Terry pressed the camera button repeatedly, trying to turn the camera back on. He groaned in disappointment when it didn't work, then changed the camera back to Arthur's room.

The king was gone.

Panic flooding through him, Terry flicked back through the cameras until he found the massive armored figure. It was holding a massive broadsword, one that Terry was certain was not there before. Not only that, but it appeared to be heading towards the security office.

Knowing now that he couldn't afford to change the camera, Terry backed away from the screen. He quickly checked both doors, noting that the phoenix dashed away again.

Sighing and sitting back, Terry shook his head. He was so screwed. He glanced up at the clock, his eyes widening when he saw that it had only been about an hour.

Then an ear-splitting screech filled the air, and there was the thump of something breaking plaster. An odd, unrecognizable sound quickly followed the screech, accompanied by an extremely strange sensation that he couldn't place. Kind of like a ripple through the air that caused dust to fly up and the air to shift.

The air began to grow colder, causing Terry to begin shivering.

A mechanical hand reached through the wall, phasing through plaster as though it were air. The palm of the hand flattened against the wall, pushing the rest of the arm through. A ragged black sleeve shrouded the arm from the wrist up. At the shoulder, the black sleeve met with a black shroud, made of the same tattered rags. In moments, a towering creature of metal and black robes had walked into the security room out of the wall.

Terry backed away, coming up against the back wall of the security room. With a panic fueled punch, Terry attacked the creature.

A metal hand swept up at exactly the same time, as though the creature had anticipated it. The mechanical fingers clasped around Terry's wrist, immobilizing his arm. Terry's eyes were drawn to the creature's metal hand. From within the deep sleeves of the robe, a bleached white shape slowly emerged. Four fingers, followed by a hand and then a thumb, all made of bone. The skeletal hand wrapped around Terry's arm, causing him to hiss at the painful cold.

The dark wraith hissed, its darkness-filled cowl leaning closer.

 **Fresh meat.**

Then the darkness consumed him.

* * *

 **Alternate ending: Terry consumes the darkness and the story ends there.**

 **Here we are, folks! Chapter 1 of Soul Without Life! Terry's not going to be the only protagonist, of course. We're going to be going back to Vincent quite frequently, and we'll even have Nightmare, Marion, and one of the new animatronics showing up as our P.O.V.**

 **Now read on!**


	2. Not dead (yet)

When someone wakes up, they usually take stock of themselves, either consciously or unconsciously. They check to make sure that they're alive, to make sure they have two arms and two legs, and most importantly if they're ready to wake up.

For Terry, the waking up checklist was very much deliberate.

Arms? Two.

Legs? Two.

Head? Intact.

Ready to wake up? Probably not, considering the headache.

Position? Sitting upright. Not the most uncomfortable position he had fallen asleep in. He was a college student, after all.

Alive?

Wait…

The last thing to happen before unconsciousness was a creepy as hell robot walking through a wall, grabbing his wrist, growing another arm made out of bone, and then covering his mind in shadows.

All things considered, it was probably just a bad dream brought on by stress.

Terry opened his eyes and immediately closed them again. Nope. Nope nope nope. That wasn't real. There was not a dragon with a glowing green glass eye looming over him right now. It wasn't possible. That sort of thing only happened in horror movies and the really _weird_ kind of campfire story. You know, the kind you get told when your friends get themselves knock-down drunk despite the fact you told them that they're underage.

"If it helps, most of the people I've rescued react that way too."

And now it was talking to him. Either someone had drugged him in his sleep, he was developing schizophrenia, or…

Or there actually was a black dragon with a glowing green glass eye trying to put him at ease.

He honestly hoped it was schizophrenia.

"You're not losing it. You actually were attacked by a monster that can walk through walls, manipulate shadows, and likes to eat people." The voice paused. "Although I'll be honest, I don't know what it is either. Come to that, I don't even know what I am, if that helps."

All things considered, for a hallucination, it was awfully polite and friendly. Terry had expected a hallucination to be more… strange. But then, many schizophrenia victims reported hallucinations that were basically living people. This, though, was right in the middle. Talked like a person, looked like a creepy animatronic.

"It really would help if you opened your eyes."

Resigned to his hallucination, Terry opened his eyes. The dragon's face was right in front of him, but it backed away when his eyes opened. Despite the decrepit animatronic head, the eyes somehow conveyed emotion quite well. Right now they were friendly, although the right eye was somewhat offputting. The way it just stared, without ever blinking. True, the thing was a robot, and it didn't need to blink, but it did so anyways. With its left eye, anyways. The right eyelid looked broken.

"See! Was that so hard?" The dragon sat back into a squat, sitting in an oddly feline manner. Its tail wrapped around its feet, proving that there were motors inside, and the wings fanned half-heartedly. The broken joints probably proved to be the limiting factor there. "Maybe we should start from the beginning. Hi! My name's Draco, and I'm a dragon animatronic. I live in this arcade and do my best to save people before Wraith gets ahold of them. What's your name?"

"Um, Terry," Terry answered, "What do you mean you save people?"

"Well, Wraith and Arthur really don't like the security guards, for different reasons." Draco shifted a little bit, such an alive motion that it was almost hard to believe that it was a robot. "Wraith eats people and absorbs their souls, while Arthur just doesn't like trespassers in his 'kingdom'. Both of them have killed people for those reasons before."

" _Killed people?!_ " Terry almost screamed.

Draco's expression fell. "I've tried so hard to save people, but when Wraith and Arthur get ahold of them, they're gone. Forever. No soul, unlike some of the ones that linger around the museum. It's a horrible way to die."

The dragon suddenly glanced up from Terry to the other side of the room. There was a quick clatter of movement, and the phoenix entered the room. She – and as before Terry had a hard time calling the phoenix an it with the design - was clawing at the suit torso as she stumbled in, moving with astonishing speed despite her supposed lack of coordination. With a triumphant shout, she ripped the torso section of her suit off and dumped it on the ground. "Good riddance!"

"Finally got that stupid thing off?" Draco asked, amusement clear in his voice.

"And now they won't just put it back on." The phoenix's torso was nothing more than a mechanical endoskeleton now, but somehow that was actually less disturbing than the exaggerated proportions of the suit. Sighing in relief despite her lack of breath, the phoenix went and sat in the corner, silent for a few moments before her intelligent golden eyes found Terry. "Uh, hello. How're you feeling?"

"How'm I feeling? Well, considering that I was nearly _eaten_ by an empty robe, I'm feeling pretty good," Terry answered sarcastically, "And now apparently there are – what'd you say?" He turned to Draco, his voice growing higher pitched. "Souls? Souls are real? And mine could've been eaten or lost or destroyed or whatever. Nah, I'm fine. Perfectly fine." By the end of his little rant, Terry's voice had cracked and he was nearing hysterics.

Draco gave him a sympathetic look. "I wish I could honestly say that I've gone through the same things as you, but I really can't. I do know, though, that it can't be easy to have your whole world rocked in a second like that. I'm sorry."

"So what, then? What _are_ you? Why are you alive? The only known true artificial intelligence are the creations of Fritz Smith, who wouldn't sell his designs to this crappy place!" Terry paused for breath. "Then there's the – what'd you call it? – Wraith. What the hell is that thing?! It walks through walls, has literal, actual human _bones_ inside of its robes, and it _eats_ people!"

Draco hesitated, glancing at Pharra. When she gave him a tiny, almost imperceptible nod, he spoke. "I'll be honest, I don't know what I am. I just… woke up one day. I already knew about souls, and magic, and a whole lot of things that you don't want to hear about because it'll destroy what reality you have left. After a while, I gave Pharra life as well; I was lonely." He looked over at the phoenix, his gaze lingering on her for a second before he looked back at Terry. "As for Wraith, well, it's a creature I've started calling Dark Ones. It eats fear, and isn't really… alive. It can't die, it can't live, and it barely experiences emotion. It's a cruel, cruel monster. Even though it doesn't need to consume, well, anything to survive, it likes to tear people apart and consume them for energy. It likes to torture them."

Throughout all this, Terry could only stare in stunned silence. He had understood maybe a third of that, and what he had understood made zero sense. Souls? Magic? Dark Ones? It sounded like gibberish. Apparently this showed on his face, too, as Pharra spoke up. "It won't make much sense right now. All you need to keep in mind is that there's a lot going on that humans don't know about, and Wraith is one of those things. So are me, Draco, and even Arthur."

"What's the deal with Arthur, then? Wraith is a ghost- sorry, 'Dark One', you're a… whatever you are, and Pharra was created by you. What does that make the knights?" Terry asked.

"Arthur's an ancient king, and the knights are golems he has made." Draco's answer was stated simply, as though it was something anyone could figure out. When Terry gave him an exhausted look, the dragon elaborated. "Arthur's a real ghost, a dead man who has clung to the world. He used his power to make the knights into mindless slaves, although it's far from cruelty since they had no intellect to begin with."

"So the robots are robots," Terry deadpanned.

"More or less." Pharra spoke this time, cutting Draco off. "But Arthur controls them with his magic."

Terry looked between the two robots. Of the two Pharra seemed to be the more… human. Well, human acting. Draco was alive in a way that was natural but inhuman, acting like one would expect an anthropomorphic dragon to behave, but Pharra acted like a human being. One who was accustomed to an odd body, but human nonetheless.

It was calming, actually. The way that she acted human while everything else here was… familiar. It was normality in a world of oddities.

Without warning, Draco looked up, staring into space. After a second, his gaze refocused. "It's half a minute away from six A.M. We need to get back to the stage before the humans get here." He looked back down at Terry. "Good luck. I really hope you don't ever have to worry about the supernatural ever again, Terry."

With that, the two animatronics stood and left the room. A couple of seconds later, the alarm chimed, marking the end of Terry's shift. A barely perceptible ripple crossed the room, disturbing the dust and shifting the air, and Terry knew instinctively that he was safe.

Climbing to his feet, Terry started out of the room. A quick glance around told him that it was the storage room that Wraith called home. He shuddered at the sight of the bones, but he reminded himself that he wasn't ever coming back here, so he never had to worry about Wraith again. Sighing with relief, Terry made his way to the front entrance.

When Terry entered the main show area, he glanced up at the animatronics onstage. They had already resumed their positions, although Pharra was still missing the torso section of her costume and Draco's wings were just a bit more ragged than the day before. Terry could only wonder what had done such damage to Draco. As far as he had seen, the dragon hadn't gotten into anything that could damage him. Well, not while Terry was conscious.

Shaking his head, Terry turned towards the main doors. The manager was already there to check on the building, his keys fumbling in the lock. The worried-looking little man clearly didn't expect Terry to be there when he arrived, as when Terry pushed the door open from the inside the man jumped.

"T-Terry! Y-you're al-here!" The man stuttered nervously. "I-I didn't e-expect you t-to mee-meet me at th-the door!"

"No, I think you expected me to die. You expected there to be one more skeleton in the storage room." Terry immediately knew he was right when the man stuttered to protest, but he held up his hand. "I don't want an apology, I just want my pay."

The manager frantically dug out his wallet and pulled out all of the cash inside. "P-please, d-don't tell anyone."

"Not like it matters." Terry took the cash and counted it, finding to his surprise that it was easily five hundred dollars in twenties. He made a show of counting it, then handed back three hundred. He wasn't cruel. "Count yourself lucky. If I was anyone else I'd have taken it all."

With that, Terry walked off, fuming inside. How dare he? How _dare_ he? Sending people to die so that the flesh-eating monster inside didn't leave.

But Terry really wasn't the kind of person to hold a grudge. It honestly wasn't worthwhile. He got angry with surprising ease, but also cooled down easily. Apparently that was something he got from his father, his ability to calm down in a second. That along with his pale blue eyes. Yet people often gave him things. He unnerved people. It wasn't anything he did, either. It was just… him.

Which was odd. Terry was tall, but he was lanky to the point of emaciated. His eye sockets casted shadows, his cheeks were sunken, and his ribs were visible even through his shirt. His skin was pretty pale due to his sedentary lifestyle, but he had a residual tan on his arms and legs from his years in Boy Scouts.

Terry's rumination was disturbed when his phone buzzed in his pocket. Remembering that he had left Darius wondering what he was up to, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened the text log.

T: Call you in the morning

D: You never told me what you were doing tho

-Today-

D: Hey, you going to tell me what u were up to last night? Were you with a girl?

Terry smirked. Darius Martinez was his best friend, even if he was a bit of a doofus. Darius was an incorrigible flirter, and had gone through five girlfriends in the past year. To be fair, it wasn't even Darius's fault that they had each left him. His family was fairly rich, and the girls that tended to flock towards Darius were the kind to date for a few months, take a couple hundred dollars, and leave. Darius did a horrible of job to discourage them, which was why Terry had to step in. One look at young Terry, and most of them backed off. That didn't stop some, though.

Shaking his head at Darius, Terry typed out a response.

T: Stayed up all night watching robots run around. Learned that magic, ghosts, and demons are real. Nearly died from flesh-eating robot.

Within a second of Terry pressing send, the phone's ringtone rang out. Terry immediately answered and raised the phone to his ear to be met with a voice with a faint Mexican accent. "You're joking, right?"

"Really wish I was, man," Terry replied, "But last night I took the night watch job for Armory Arcade – you remember that old place, right? With the dragon and the phoenix?"

"Yeah, I remember. Spent a ton of time on those arcade games," Darius answered. "So you're saying that there's a flesh-eating robot there? And that you saw magic and ghosts?"

"Saw the flesh-eating robot, yeah. It's some kind of demon in a robot, apparently." Terry paused and bit his lip. "I'm serious, here. I wasn't sleep-deprived, or drugged, or hallucinating. It _walked through a wall_ and tried to kill me."

"…" Darius was silent for a moment. "You're… messing with me, right?"

Terry had an internal debate. To be honest, he had never expected Darius to believe him. The story even sounded preposterous to _him_! But he couldn't lie to Darius! On the other hand, though, if Darius didn't believe him there was nobody that would. Sighing, Terry answered. "Yeah, I'm messing with you. Although those robots are creepy as hell. They nailed the old king robot to its chair because it glitched out so frequently, and the dragon's right eye is broken or something."

"Sounds like the place is falling apart. Maybe you were hallucinating from, like, black mold or something," Darius suggested.

"Yeah, probably." Terry knew what he had seen, though. "Anyways, I've got my pay and I'll be looking for another job soon."

"Hey, I heard Fazbear's was always open for new hires. Maybe you can just get a job there," Darius said.

Terry hesitated. He had heard a lot about Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. It was a wonderful place. It was a terrible place. Children had been murdered there. The animatronics were haunted. The head of security was a murderer. The head of security was a vampire. The head of security was a demon. The head of security was a police officer. There were a lot of stories about the head of security, actually. "I don't know."

"Well, your choice," Darius said, the shrug evident in his voice. "In any event, I'll see you when I'm free in a month."

"Can't wait for our game tournament. See ya." With that, Terry ended the call. Slipping the phone back into his pocket, Terry sighed. He wasn't eager to take another night watch job, but maybe he would have to.

Continuing his walk back home, Terry took in the sights of the city. He was cautious to avoid the dark alleys, knowing from his father's warnings that all sorts of people hid in the alleyways for unsuspecting passers-by.

Of course, there were other people he'd rather avoid. Ones that didn't hide in dark alleys. A couple of creeps with dark cloaks and wide-brimmed hats shot him the evil eye as he walked past. He thought he could see their veins beneath their impossibly pale skin. Further on he almost bumped into a guy with a serious shaving issue, not an inch of his face was clear of hair.

Terry was an accepting person. He often made split-second decisions about someone based on their appearance, but he always gave them a chance. But these strange people pushed that to the limit. There were just more odd people around, these days, and that wasn't even counting the increased furry population now that Fazbear's was raking in customers from all over the country. The furries were at least normal people. Normal people wearing animal suits, yes, but normal people regardless.

Which brought Terry back to Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. The place was everywhere, nowadays. Freddy Fazbear's had brought fortune to the city. Freddy Fazbear's had drawn in population. Freddy Fazbear's had become a major tourist attraction, not only because of the amazingly advanced animatronics, but also because of their fantastic foods and great prices.

Fazbear's was behind _everything_! They'd only even been open for a year, but they'd already risen to national popularity!

Shaking his head, Terry continued on. He quickly made his way back to the residential area of the city, where his mother lived. Terry reached home in minutes, pulling his keys out of his pocket and unlocking the door. He was greeted by the smell of cooking eggs and bacon, which immediately put a smile on his face.

Closing the door behind him, he slowly crept through the house. Knowing his mother, she would be so engrossed in cooking that she wouldn't even notice as he stealthily approached.

Clearly he was right. His mother was standing over the stove, happily humming away as she prepared scrambled eggs.

Terry stepped up until he was directly behind her, practically looming over his much shorter mother. Only once he was behind her did he shift his weight, allowing the loose floorboards to creak and alert his mother to his presence.

Much to her credit, Terry's mother didn't even jump when the floor directly behind her creaked. Instead she just turned her head, smiling as she saw Terry. "Hello, Terry! How'd your night go?"

In a fraction of a second, Terry decided not to tell his mother about the robots. It would only worry her, either because she would think he was crazy or because she'd take him seriously. "It was uneventful, but I got paid two hundred dollars for it."

"Two hundred for one night? They must really have cared about keeping the place in good condition before they sold it." Terry's mother turned her attention back to her cooking, not noticing Terry's wince. "So what're you going to do now?"

"Look for a new job, I guess," Terry answered.

"You could always look for a job at Freddy Fazbear's. Their rate of promotion is incredibly fast. Plus, your sister loves that place." His mom continued, again not noticing the wince on Terry's face.

"I'll think about it," Terry said. It was in that tone of voice that said 'I'll think about it, but I won't do anything about it'.

"Look at the place later today." It wasn't a suggestion. "Who knows, you might be surprised. For now, though, have some breakfast and take a nap. I imagine you're exhausted."

* * *

 **So Draco and Pharra are friendly, while the others aren't. Readers of A Second Chance will recognize some things that were introduced there, but not to worry! Newcomers will still have (almost) everything explained. There are a few things that you'll need to read A Second Chance to understand.**

 **Moving on, we have Terry's interaction with Darius. Those who've read Sometimes Things Happen might recognize these two names from the Halloween chapter.**

 **Terry also seems to have some beef with Freddy Fazbears. Wonder what that could be...**

 **Now read on!**


	3. Freddy Fazbear's

It was later in the day when Terry set out for Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria.

Thanks to his mother's insistence, Terry was driving to the pizzeria in his mother's SUV. It wasn't that he didn't own a car for himself, but it was the fact that he didn't, in fact, own a car for himself. Terry would've walked, but apparently taking an hour to arrive at the pizzeria would mean that he got there too close to closing time for it to matter.

So now that he was pulling into the parking lot of the pizzeria, Terry wasn't exactly happy.

Fazbear's pizzeria was never a place he had associated with happiness. His only memories of the place were from way back in 1993, when he was barely old enough to remember it. What he had was less than a memory, more of an impression of horrifying animatronics and crying figures. Now he knew that the robots were, in fact, terrifying back then. The crying children were still a mystery, though.

Terry had had far more fun memories at the Armory Arcade than here at Freddy's, although now he was seriously reconsidering that, seeing as he had nearly died at the Arcade. Funny how that worked.

Sighing and shaking his head, Terry started walking towards the building. The sign was revamped from what it had been before, with Freddy Fazbear himself greeting people with a wave. The creepy puppet thing was next to the iconic bear, its permanently grimacing face looking, for once, happy.

The building loomed before him like some kind of giant sprawling complex. Terry knew full well that they had so many customers that a single room building would be unreasonable, but this was ridiculous. There had to be rooms in there that they never even _used_.

Terry pushed the door open and was immediately met with the screams of children. His initial impression was that the children were screaming in fear, but a moment's consideration quickly proved that they were excited.

A man, probably just a bit older than Terry, manned the reception counter with a smile. Not the frozen grin that most children's party places would instill, but a genuine smile. "Hello, and welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, where people of all ages can enjoy themselves. How can I help you today?"

"Um, I'm kind of looking for a job…" Terry walked up to the counter. He was almost certain that this guy would react as people usually did, with a nervous chuckle and a quickly concealed look of fear, but to his surprise this receptionist didn't react at all. "I heard that the night watch job is always open…?"

The receptionist's smile widened. "You heard correctly. We're always looking for a new night watchman."

Terry's brow furrowed. "Is there some reason that people keep leaving? Is the job dangerous or something?"

"No, no," The receptionist laughed. "I graduated from night watchman, actually. Now I have a stable, great paying job."

"As a receptionist?" Terry asked in surprise.

"Yes, in fact. Freddy's treats their employees really well." The receptionist nodded. "In any case, if you want the night watch job go look for Vincent. You can't miss him. Tall, skinny, pale, white hair, always wearing a purple uniform. Tell him that you want the night watch job." The receptionist reached under the counter and pulled out a purple wristband. "You can take the wristband off when you leave, but until then you should wear it."

Shrugging Terry took the proffered wristband and put it on. With the purple band on his wrist, Terry continued into the main show area to look around.

To his great surprise, the room was incredibly well-maintained. There were two stages, one with a huge curtain that could drape closed. The other stage, the smaller one, was a simple raised wooden platform. While the smaller stage was empty right now, the big one had three of the creepy robots on it. Well, less creepy now, now that he thought about it.

All three animatronics were smoothly covered in some kind of synthetic fur, leaving no visible gaps for the mechanisms. They each had a unique bodyshape, clearly altered to better fit the character, and the fur – or in the chicken's case, feathers - looked almost real.

The rabbit animatronic – Bonnie? – was tallest of the three, if one counted its ears. The only thing the rabbit wore was a red bowtie, though that hardly mattered. The lavender colored creature had soft red eyes that darted across the room, and Terry could swear that it locked gazes with him for a fraction of a second. Bonnie's form was broad-shouldered, like a football player, and Terry would swear that it rippled with muscle when the rabbit moved. Adding to this image was the fact that its legs were similarly heavily muscled. Despite the goofy grin the animatronic wore, Terry found it incredibly intimidating.

Then there was the chicken, Chica. It was a comfortable chubby shape, like one would get if they ate good food but didn't exercise quite enough. That wasn't to say that the chicken looked obese or fat, just comfortably heavyweight. Its arms were replaced with wings, in the same manner as many animated anthropomorphic birds. Feathery fingers were the end of her wing-like arms. Her beak was pointed and rigid, yet somehow managed to portray a grin. The chicken's magenta eyes scanned the room, similarly to the rabbit's. Like Bonnie, it only wore one piece of clothing, though in the chicken's case it was a bib with the words 'Let's eat!'

The bear, though, the bear was scary. Freddy's cold blue eyes were analytical, but at the same time they were protective. Like a bodyguard watching his wards. The bear was almost as broad-shouldered as Bonnie, but at the same time was… sleeker. His brown fur covered every inch of his sleekly muscular body. Unlike the other two, Freddy wore a smooth black top-hat, though like Bonnie the bear wore a bowtie, in Freddy's case a black one. There was something eerily intelligent about Freddy Fazbear, and it almost terrified Terry.

Terry found his thoughts interrupted when a man burst out of the door marked 'kitchen', a steaming pizza in each hand. With a manic grin, the man darted unsteadily across the room to a party table filled with kids and shouted, "Who's ready for pizza?!"

When the cheering had calmed down and the man put the pizza down, Terry got a good look at him. Despite his white hair, the man didn't look old. Just ageless. He was as pale as could be, too. His eyes were a lifeless grey, yet he could very clearly see. He moved oddly, with exaggerated motions that would be comical to an unobservant onlooker, but to Terry it was a calculated action. It was designed to amuse and deflect scrutiny. Yet even with that silly walk and the goofy grin, there was something about those grey eyes that said that this man had seen things that nobody should see.

That was when Terry realized who this man was. The purple uniform would've given it away instantly, had he payed attention, but instead it was those eyes. The infamous head of security at Freddy Fazbear's: Vincent.

No last name was ever given. The man apparently didn't have one. According to modern rumor he had just appeared one day, with one name and a head of white hair. Vincent was an enigma.

Bringing himself back to focus, Terry started walking across the room towards Vincent. The skeletal man seemed to notice his approach, quickly turning to greet him. As Terry grew near, Vincent's wild grin reappeared. "Hey there. I see you've got the purple band, which Mark only gives to people who're looking for a job. You here for the night watchman position?"

"Yes." Terry nodded. Clearly this place was incredibly well-organized if this sort of thing was planned out.

"Alright, then let's start the screening process." Vincent stretched and settled into a more normal stance, his feet shifting ever so slightly to change his overall appearance from goofy to intimidating. "Question one: what's your name?"

Terry was almost surprised at the sudden shift. Almost. Vincent might have gone from goofy stickman to towering skeleton, but Terry had been expecting it. Instead of flinching as someone else would, Terry just shifted his weight. "Terry."

"Not giving a last name?" Vincent raised an eyebrow. "Well, can't exactly blame you there. Second question: Any criminal record?"

"No."

"Good answer." Vincent spent a moment scrutinizing Terry's face, then went on to the next question. "Have you had any history of mingling with occult, supernatural, or divine forces?"

That one threw Terry for a loop. "Um, what?"

Vincent's face broke out into the grin once more. "I'm just messing with you. You're hired. Get your application in by closing time tomorrow and you'll be able to collect your first paycheck at the end of the week."

"What?" Terry blinked in surprise. "Just like that?"

"Well, yes." Vincent scratched his head. "You weren't lying about the criminal history, otherwise the animatronics' facial recognition software would've sent me an alert." Here the head of security tapped his ear. "And you answered correctly for question three. I won't have people who believe in the supernatural working the night watch. They'd be too likely to panic when the animatronics enter free-roam mode."

"So… that's it then? You take a look at me and decide that I'm good enough for the job?" Terry asked, still confused.

"More or less. I pride myself in my ability to read people." Vincent shrugged. Then he snapped his fingers. "Oh! I knew I was forgetting something. Homework. You're working tonight's shift, because frankly I'm tired of not getting enough sleep. Before then, spend the rest of the day here. You can leave at closing time if you come back by midnight, but I want you to get a feel how Freddy's operates during the day."

"Why, exactly?" Terry raised an eyebrow.

"Well, where do you think you're going at the end of the week? Night guards get promoted after their first week." Vincent paused. "On second thought, I want you to spend every day here until the end of your first week. Who knows, you may just enjoy it." Vincent stopped again, glancing at the stage. "Ah, looks like showtime's over for the day. You've got an hour to take a look around. Chat with some of the other employees. I'll see you tonight."

With that, Vincent… vanished. Not literally, of course, but suddenly the man wasn't there anymore. Vincent had disappeared into the crowd, leaving Terry with nothing but directions. Oh, and a keycard that had been slipped into his hand at the last second.

Shaking his head, Vincent looked at the main stage. The animatronics were waving at the crowd as the curtain slowly drew closed. It was almost unnoticeable, but just before the curtain closed Terry would swear that he saw Freddy's stiff pose relax.

After staring at the closed curtain for a moment to try and be certain whether or not he had seen that, Terry turned around and rubbed his eyes. Once he was certain that his eyes were clear, Terry walked into a connecting room and looked around. This room had shelves upon shelves of toys and stuffed animals lining the walls, as well as balloons and ribbons adorning the corners of the room. In one corner was a massive blue present box, while another corner had a comfortable looking wooden chair.

While the chair was vacant, there was a mechanical animatronic standing against one wall. While the other animatronics looked realistic and organic, this one was very blatantly mechanical. Its eyes were both blue, but were set just behind the porcelain mask that made up its face. The whole robot had a clown aesthetic, with a red nose in the center of its segmented face. Its body was somewhat scrawny, but the frills and bright colors made it look somewhat bigger. As Terry entered the room, the robot turned to look at him. Its mouth moved oddly, with a visible mechanical jaw behind its porcelain mask moving up and down while the joints in the mask moved to the sides, like some sort of mandibles. "Hello, new employee. My name is Ennard."

Its voice was… strange. He couldn't place why it felt so odd. The voice was as androgynous as possible, which caused Terry more than a little bit of confusion. "Um. Hi. My name's Terry."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Terry." Ennard nodded, its head bobbing awkwardly like it had seen someone nod but hadn't had much opportunity to practice. "I have been experiencing issues with my internal wiring, and am as yet unaccustomed to this-," The robot paused. "I apologize. I have inconvenienced you without need. I shall find the mechanic."

Before Terry could so much as stutter a question, Ennard had walked off. Terry could only stare as it left, dumbfounded at the intelligence that this machine displayed. It knew when something was wrong, recognized names, could recognize employees, and knew how to find someone to fix it. Supposedly Fritz Smith had been the one to work on these robots, and with this revelation it wouldn't surprise Terry.

Curiosity gnawing at him, Terry walked over to the large present box and started to lift the lid.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you."

Surprised by the voice, Terry dropped the lid and whirled. Standing there was a towering young man, just a bit older than he was. The newcomer was incredibly powerfully built, putting Terry in mind of the football players in college. That didn't change his goofy grin, or the easy stance that the man was wearing. His eyes were brown, but for some reason Terry suspected contacts. The stranger's fair skin was evenly tan, which fit the sporty look. That, combined with the short-cropped blonde hair made Terry almost immediately despise him. Yet there was something that drew Terry's attention the most, aside from the fact that the man's blonde hair was tipped with lavender.

"What's with the bunny ears?" Terry asked, raising an eyebrow. Lavender rabbit ears, just like the ones atop the animatronic's head.

"Heh," The stranger reached up and tapped the side of his head, drawing Terry's attention to a headband. "Gift from my sister. She'll freak out if I take it off." The stranger chuckled and extended his right hand. "Name's Bernie."

Terry glanced at Bernie's hand, then mentally shrugged and took it. "I'm Terry. You work here?"

Bernie's goofy grin widened as he shook Terry's hand. "Yeah, you could say that. So you're the newest night guard?"

"How'd you know that?" This time both of Terry's eyebrows shot up. Today really was full of surprises.

"Saw you talking to Vince, and you're wearing a purple wristband." Bernie shrugged and stepped back.

That was odd. Terry had taken a good look around before going to talk to Vincent, and he hadn't spotted this hard to miss young man. Filing it away as another oddity, Terry continued. "The employees here seem pretty close. I've never heard of anyone referring to Vincent as anything less than his full name; but then most of the time I've only heard rumors."

"Yeah, we're like a family here." Suddenly the goofy grin was gone, replaced by an eerily motionless expression. "So if you hurt someone, you have me to deal with." And just like that, the grin was back. "In any event, lemme introduce you to some of the others." Bernie waved for Vincent to follow and set off.

After a moment of hesitation, Terry decided to follow this strange man. It probably couldn't hurt. Well, that was a lie. It could hurt quite a lot if things went wrong. But in all honesty, it didn't feel off. Terry had a sort of sixth sense when it came to things like that.

Bernie led Terry through the main room, heading straight for Pirate's Cove. Terry glanced around as they passed through, noting that there were far less people here than before. Apparently with closing time coming, people were trickling out.

When Bernie and Terry reached Pirate's cove, Bernie pulled one of the curtains aside. "Hey Jack, I'm taking the new guy on a mini-tour. Come meet him."

After a moment, a gruff voice from within Pirate's cove responded. "Alright, just pickin' up the last of… Foxy's stuff."

That momentary pause had been odd, but it was easy to understand why if Jack had been moving something.

A couple of seconds later another young man pushed out from behind the purple curtains, straightening as he did so. Jack was short and wiry, but in that way that true scrappers often were. His pale face and ginger hair easily placed his Eastern European heritage, as well as the flat cap he wore. Jack's green eyes were so pale that hey seemed almost yellow, and most people would describe them as such. The easy grin that the young man wore said 'I could probably get you on the ground in two seconds, but that wouldn't be as much fun'.

"Terry, meet Jack. Jack takes care of the animatronic props around here." Bernie pat Jack atop the head, causing the shorter man to shoot him an annoyed glare before returning to his normal grin. "Jack, this is Terry. He'll be the night guard for the next week."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "That so? Best of luck to ye, then. Some of the night guards've had trouble with people breakin' in."

"What should I do if that happens during my shift?" Terry asked, brow furrowing.

"Press the panic button in yer office," Jack said offhandedly. "It'll contact tha police and lock the intruder in 'till they get here. Just don't use tha damn thing 'less someone breaks into tha buildin'. Tha police don't like it much when they arrive ta find that the night guard panicked over movin' robots."

"So I just lock myself in and hope they don't break anything? Doesn't sound like the best idea."

"Someone would have to try real hard to do damage we can't easily replace." Bernie waved him off. "The animatronics are far from delicate, the prizes in the prize corner are cheap, and the live-in staff can defend themselves."

So there were some members of staff that lived in the pizzeria? Terry would love to know more about that later, but for now he was a little more worried about getting to know this place. He turned to look around, noting that the main party area was almost empty. There was a chime that signaled closing time, and Terry turned back around to talk to Jack and Bernie. "So what now-,"

They were both gone. Not a sound had been made, but both of them had disappeared without a trace. Shaking his head, Terry made his way to the main entrance.

He'd be back for his first night later.

* * *

 **Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, where most of the story will be taking place. Already there's something off, though you readers probably already know what.**

 **In any event, meet, um, everyone! All of the characters introduced in this chapter will appearing again more than a few times.**

 **Now read on!**


	4. Night 1

For some reason, Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria looked just that little bit more sinister at night time.

It had little to do with lighting, as the parking lot was lit up like day time. The building was clearly illuminated, with very minimal shadows around the building. It wasn't as though anything had changed, either. It was exactly the same as it had been during the day, it just gave a… vibe. A strange feeling of dread and danger.

But that was probably silly.

Terry dug the keycard out of his pocket as he walked towards the doors. It was nearing midnight, which was when his shift would start. Swiping his keycard against the scanner and shoved his way inside, looking around the dimly-lit building.

Or so he thought. Apparently the building had full power until midnight, or so Terry assumed. Everything was still fully lit, as though it had been in use just five minutes ago. It was somewhat offputting, having the huge space be fully lit yet completely empty.

Which drew Terry's gaze to the one thing that made the room _not_ empty. The smaller stage was occupied now, apparently the animatronics that stayed there had returned to their position. Both of the robots were subtly different from the ones that were on the main stage, it was noticeable in the little things. The slight divots in their yellow fur, the fact that they were just barely bigger than a human being, and the way they stood.

The first one was a large bear, kind of reminiscent of Freddy. In fact, he figured that was deliberate. There were similar features in the face and eyes. What set this bear apart was that while Freddy was deceptively muscular, this animatronic was overweight in a jolly sort of way. Kind of like Santa Claus, if Santa's eyes gave the impression that they could easily be removed and replaced. Something about the bear's golden form just seemed… hollow. Like it could be opened up and entered. It was something to do with the eyes and the shape, as well as a rumor Terry had heard about suits that could be both robot and costume.

The rabbit, though, was slim and lanky. Its stance was vaguely familiar, reminding him of someone he had seen before. Its fur was fuzzy and soft, and Terry almost wanted to reach out and pet it. The ears stood up straight and attentively, giving the rabbit a kind of energetic atmosphere. Its eyes were a brilliant turquoise, which gave the almost unsettling impression that it was constantly watching. As with the bear, there was a hollow quality, as though someone could enter it.

But Terry wasn't about to be late for his first shift, and he knew that he could only technically be on-duty at twelve. It was about eleven fifty-five, which meant that he needed to be in his office in five minutes.

Terry's time at home hadn't been wasted. He'd gone through a map of the place during his free time, doing his best to memorize the layout of the place. Thus, he knew exactly where to go to reach his office, and where to turn so that he didn't wind up in the Prize Corner.

But the office wasn't _exactly_ what he had expected. It looked like it was made in order to put a security-centric room _somewhere_ in the building. Squeezed in the minimal space between the Prize Corner and the Toy Playground, the office was in between both connecting hallways. Terry stepped inside and sat in the swivel chair that was there, spinning gently. Both doors had a pair of buttons next to them, one marked 'light' and the other 'door', there were massive windows set next to the doors as well. Set at the base of the wall that the chair had initially been facing away from was a vent cover, one that was easily large enough for even the broadest-shouldered of people to crawl through.

Then, without warning, the lights in the building all shut off at once.

 _Bzzt._

 _Bzzt._

 _Bzzt._

The buzzing alerted Terry to the tablet that was sitting on the desk in the office. Turning his swivel chair back to face the desk, Terry picked the tablet up and took a good look at it. The device was surprisingly light for its size, even considering that it was a hand-held tablet. The screen was easily large enough to act as a full-blown computer, but the grips on the sides made it easy to hold. After examining the tablet for a moment, Terry pressed the glowing button in the center of the screen.

Immediately, the whole screen lit up. Displayed was a map of the pizzeria with camera numbers listed at various locations. Curious, Terry pressed the button for the main party area, only for the whole map to shrink and move to the top left corner and the main portion of the screen to be replaced with a live feed of the main room.

Then Terry noticed the button in the bottom right of the screen.

 _You have (1) new message._

Shrugging, Terry pressed the button. Almost instantly, a voice began to speak. Terry immediately recognized the voice as belonging to Vincent, the head of security.

 _"Let's see here, got my script that I won't be using, got the tablet, got my – wait, it's on. Ahem._

 _"So, you're the newest night guard here at Freddy Fazbear's. Before I say anything else I gotta read out the disclaimer. So here it is. Freddy Fazbear's Pizza is not responsible for causing any depression, stress, anxiety, PTSD, phobias, bipolar disorder, insanity, or manic rantings about ghosts, haunted robots, or conspiracy theories."_ Vincent's voice turned mocking. _"Uh, uh, the robotsh're clearly haunted by kidsh!"_ The head of security laughed. _"So, yes, you could go and scream it to the public that you think there are demons or ghosts here, but we aren't responsible for your inevitable imprisonment._

 _"Anyways, back on topic. We also aren't responsible for any crushing, twisting, bleeding out, lacerations, concussions, or any other physical injury or death. Now you may be wondering why this is important. Well, the animatronics are kind of broken. Fritz does everything he can, but there's some kind of conflict between their free-roam mode and their facial recognition software. They might not see you as who you are, but instead as a criminal or – worse – naked endoskeleton."_ There was a pause. _"You know how there are rules in place for children's performers? How they're forbidden from removing their costumes in front of the kids? That rule's in place here for the animatronics. Except that for them, keeping in costume means forcefully stuffing naked endoskeletons into spare animatronic costumes. Now, while that's not a real issue at face value, those suits are designed for robots. There are all kinds of wires and metal connectors inside that can tear through your skin and flesh. It's not a fun way to die. Being sliced up by wires as you slowly bleed out, and then-,"_

The audio cut for a fraction of a second before continuing. _"-But really, you probably won't have to worry about it. Just keep the animatronics out of your room. Oh, one last thing before I teach you how to survive. You are bound by contract and the law not to disclose anything you see. Just saying._

 _"Now, change cameras to the golden stage."_

Seeing no reason not to, Terry tapped on the button for the golden stage, pulling up the image on the tablet. Both of the yellow animatronics were still there, in the same position they were before.

 _"Now then, the big bear there is Fredbear, although you can call him whatever you want. He doesn't really care. He tends to wander just a bit. He's a slow fellow, but he's patient, so if he shows up at your door just close it and wait for him to go away. There's something wrong with his voicebox, or something, which makes people hallucinate him, apparently? I'm not sure what that's about. Just ignore the hallucinations._

 _"The rabbit's Spring. He moves fast, like really fast, but you don't have to worry about him. He's only gone anywhere near the office three times in the past several months, and even then he never went near the door, just the windows. He just… stared._

 _"Now then, swap to the Puppet Box."_

Terry tapped the camera marked Puppet Box, noting that it was completely separate from the one marked Prize Corner. That was… odd. Two cameras for a room that one camera would cover just fine?

 _"Alright, so now that you're on the Puppet Box camera, you see that button that popped up? The one that says 'toggle box power'? That's your ticket to survival. You can turn the music box's power on and off so that it winds itself, but if you let the box wind down or you break the box by leaving it on too long, then the Puppet will blitz your office. Closing the doors has a tendency to cause the box to wind down faster, which is a wiring error in the building. It also means that you can't keep both doors closed all night, because the Puppet uses the vent behind you to get in, and you can't avoid it while in the office. Your best bet at that point is just to leave the office and hide somewhere else, but keep in mind that you'll be basically defenseless, and if I find out that you've damaged one of the animatronics I will personally hunt you down and remove your eyeballs. Good luck!"_

And with that mildly disturbing farewell, the voice message ended. Terry wasted no time in turning on the music box and changing to another camera, checking on the two golden animatronics. As he had almost expected, both were missing. Quickly flipping through the cameras, it wasn't long before he located Fredbear, but Spring was still missing.

Something prompted him to look up and reach over to the left door light. Right there was the yellow rabbit, one ear flopping over and the other straight. Those turquoise eyes looked into the room, periodically blinking as the rabbit tilted its head. Terry slowly leaned over and closed the left door before returning to scanning for the bear.

A childlike giggle alerted Terry to something nearby, and slowly looked up from the tablet. Sitting on the ground in front of him was the golden bear, but something was… off. It was lifeless, slumped over without eyes in its eyesockets. For some reason, the bear felt old, much older than it looked. It was incredibly unsettling, the way that despite its lifeless slump, whispers emanated from within its chest.

Remembering the instructions he had been given, Terry just looked down at his tablet again and continued to search for the bear. He quickly located the big fellow in one of the side halls, staring up at the camera. The blue eyes were missing, and for some reason they were replaced by pinpoints of light. As he stared at the bear, a headache began to slowly form, causing Terry to furrow his brow. Maybe it was the voice box malfunction, or something. Shaking his head, Terry changed cameras.

Terry turned the left light on again and raised an eyebrow. It looked like the rabbit was gone.

Ah, no it wasn't. Terry could see the tips of its ears poking up over the edge of the window. It wasn't gone, it was sitting down or crouching. Waiting. Terry wasn't about to fall for that.

Then a tinkling tune began to echo through the building.

 _All about the mulberry bush,_

 _The monkey chased the weasel._

 _The monkey thought 'twas all in good fun,_

 _Pop! goes the weasel!_

Terry's mind raced, trying to figure out what was making the noise. Then it clicked. He quickly changed to the Puppet Box camera, only to see the box wide open and empty.

Eyes widening, Terry turned in his chair just in time to see a spidery limb reaching out of the air vent. The three fingered hand latched onto the edge of the vent and pulled, bringing another spidery hand into view. With both hands pushing it out, the rest of the creature pulled itself out of the vent.

The first thing Terry noticed was the mask. White as porcelain, with purple tearstains under its soulless eyes. Its rosy cheeks only served to contrast with the porcelain face. The same applied to the red lips, which framed the wide grimace that the creature wore constantly.

Then he noticed its stance. It was tall, tall enough that if it stood up straight it could easily tap its head on the doorframe, if not the ceiling. Yet it was also so thin that there couldn't possibly be enough mechanical power inside of it to move those elongated limbs. Its white stripes gave it a kind of circus vibe, but for some reason it reminded Terry more of those creepy dolls that old ladies sometimes had.

But the last thing he noticed was definitely the fact that its lifeless eyes were staring at him.

The towering creature let out a hideous shriek, its spidery fingers shooting towards Terry's throat to strangle him as white lights appeared in its empty eyes. He felt the silken fabric brush his skin, then –

 _Mary peeked around the corner, hiding from the scary man. Those eyes. They scared her._

 _Then the stick-thin man of purple whirled, his luminous white eyes and ever-present grin locking onto her. In the blink of an eye, he was directly in front of her, one hand on the front of her shirt, the other holding a knife._

 ** _"How much did you see?"_** _The horrible grin asked, the teeth searing into her mind._

 _Mary could do nothing but struggle, crying out in fear. Tears streamed down her face as she tried to wrench herself from the man's grasp, her screams echoing down the alley. "Please don't hurt me!"_

 ** _"Stop it. Stop it!"_** _The purple silhouette shouted, slashing._

 _Tears and blood mingled, and Mary could see no longer. Pain shot through her whole being as the demon sliced her eyes, the purple color gone forever._

 _Then he slashed again, and Mary couldn't breathe. Blood filled her lungs as the purple monster dropped her now limp form. All that was left was the ringing in her ears and the pain in her body, slowly fading as death claimed her…_

-And the puppet recoiled, its pinpoint eyes widening as if in pain. Then they were gone again, and the doll was reaching for him again.

Immediately, Terry felt as though he had gone days without sleep. He quickly stumbled out of the open door that was to his left, and ran down the hallway to the main room. Almost immediately he felt awake and alert again, enough to know that his best bet was to stop, slip under one of the tables, and wait.

Terry was sitting under the table for an unknown amount of time before he saw the golden bear walking around. Well, its legs, anyways. The massive bear stomped past, pausing only for a moment directly in front of Terry before leaving.

And then a ringing filled Terry's ears, and a headache began to develop. With a start, Terry realized that he could see an eyeless version of Fredbear, just on the edge of his sight. Inevitably, his gaze was slowly drawn to the slumped and lifeless bear, the ringing drowning out his thoughts as his attention was locked onto the ancient-feeling animatronic suit. Slowly, Terry blinked, and the bear was closer. Then closer. Then closer. Terry could feel its eyeless gaze pulling him in, slowly draining his mind of thought as his headache worsened.

 _Hey!_

Terry blinked, shaking his head to try and ward off the voices. The noise. He slowly backed up, blinking again. The bear's jaw was wide open, its head tilting upright as its empty eyesockets gazing into his soul.

 _Over here! Stop looking at him! Look at me!_

Blinking once more, Terry turned his head, catching sight of a crouching form. It wasn't important.

 _"Come on! Over here!"_

Terry turned to look at the crouching form, brow furrowing. What… what was the rabbit doing here? His attention now focused on the rabbit, Terry's eyes widened as the golden animatronic's turquoise eyes looked at him. He scrambled back, eyes wide as he tried to make some distance from Spring, only to back up against a chair and cause the thing to make a hideous screeching noise as it scraped across the linoleum.

Spring only placed one finger to its pursed lips. "Shh."

And then all as silent and still.

Terry could only stare wide-eyed at the animatronic in front of him, waiting for it to attack. Instead, the rabbit just scooted forwards so that it was also under the table. Then it lowered itself to a cross-legged sit, like a small child would.

So the two sat there.

Now, anyone else would say that this silent and motionless moment was like an eternity compressed into a second. That it was something profound, having the animatronic just sit there and stare at him while he was trying his best to shrink into nothingness. That they had reached some kind of understanding.

Except Terry didn't kid himself.

No, this was terrifying. Minutes dragged on to hours as Terry stared at the robot. The creature would only ever blink, never doing anything else. It was so incredibly unsettling that it acted so alive, yet at the same time seemed content just to sit there.

In fact, Spring was very much like a living creature. Its ears twitched when Terry made the slightest noise. It blinked every couple of seconds. It periodically shifted its weight as if it was growing uncomfortable or stiff. Every now and then it would sniff, its nose wriggling like a real rabbit. It was… unsettling.

Then Terry came to a shocking realization. This animatronic, the rabbit sitting in front of him, acted like Draco had. Like an actual anthropomorphic animal. Not like a robot programmed to act like a living creature, or a human in the body of a robotic animal.

Which meant that this rabbit and Draco were similar creatures.

Which meant that Spring was not just a robot.

Which meant that something was seriously wrong here.

Contrary to what he would've preferred to let people think, Terry payed close attention to everything spoken to him. It was how he managed to keep up and gain an edge. So while most of what Draco had told him back in the Arcade had seemed nonsensical, more than a few key points had stuck. Most noteworthy was that Draco had talked about ghosts and spirits, as well as magic and demons. And Draco had been one of those strange creatures.

Which meant that Spring was too.

Which meant that it was not only possible but likely that the other two animatronics were as well.

Thinking about it, that fit. The Puppet had no eyes, yet lights had appeared within the empty holes in its mask. Fredbear clearly caused hallucinations, yet there was no way to make that happen with technology – at least as far as Terry knew. But if those animatronics were haunted or magic, what about the others?

The more Terry thought about it, the stranger the situation became.

He didn't get to think on it too much further, though. The clocks in the building all simultaneously chimed six A.M., and the lights came flickering back on. Spring looked around, then placed a finger to his lips again. The rabbit unfolded his legs and scooted out from under the table, standing up and walking across the room.

After waiting for the sounds of mechanical footsteps to stop, Terry slipped out from under the table and stood. Both of the golden animatronics were back on their stage, back in the same poses as before.

Terry took a deep breath and let it out. "Well, that happened."

Shaking his head, Terry walked back to the office and opened the door he left closed. Picking up the tablet from where it had fallen, he put it on the desk. Oddly, the vent had closed itself. Maybe the Puppet had put it back.

Terry turned and walked back to the main room, glancing at the animatronics again. He would swear that the rabbit was watching him as he walked across the room, but he wasn't going to acknowledge that.

Which was why he didn't see the rabbit poke its head around the corner when the doors closed behind him.

* * *

 **Night one. The night when the main character realizes that everything's crazy and the world is insane.**

 **Now, most stories have the character learn about the haunted robots much later on, but let's be honest: this story focuses far too much on the supernatural elements to delay that. Not only that, but the story is also quite a lot longer than most stories that even touch on the five nights formula. Of course, this is going to have seven nights, but it's still going to have the same formula.** **As for Terry, well, he's observant and smart. He's good at figuring things out.**

 **Now read on!**


End file.
